Scots favour traditional funeral hymns

While the English and Welsh are asking for more pop songs to be played at funerals, the Scots are bucking the trend and opting for more religious music.

Fifty-six percent of Scots chose hymns during the past 12 months, a rise of 2 percent on 2005, according to a survey carried out by Co-operative Funeralcare.

In the rest of the UK, only 35 percent selected religious music, a fall of 6 percent on the same period – reflecting an increasingly secular society.

The most popular hymns remained “The Lord is My Shepherd”, “Abide with Me” and “All Things Bright and Beautiful”, while the top songs were Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” and Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings”.

The Co-op, which gathered the information from 242 of its funeral homes, put the contrast down to a different attitude to change.

“I do not think we are so different from our cousins in the south,” said John Williamson, operations manager for the Co-op in Scotland.

“The Scots are not more prone to be church members, but they have a more traditional approach to funeral services in general. We are slower to change, but change is coming”.

Those who opted for non-religious funerals chose music they could identify with, the Co-op added.

This information is good for me.There’s a lot of songs written in the words of those left behind.It is really a very beautiful song.This is a list of some of the people who will be helping you after the death of a loved one…..its not a glossary but its similar….i think!